Apparatus for and method of binding a book

Abstract

A system for the perfect binding of a book block (14) within a soft paper cover is disclosed in which the center portion (18) of the cover is sized relative to the thickness of the book to be bound. An activatable adhesive is applied to the inner surface of the center portion of the cover. The book block is inserted into the cover such that the spine (S) of the book block is generally in register with the adhesive. The cover is forcibly compressed onto the book block by pressing members (60a, 60b). An ultrasonic horn (66) is brought into forcible working engagement with the outer surface of the center portion of the cover and is rendered resonant so as to transmit ultrasonic energy to the adhesive sufficient to melt the adhesive and to force the adhesive into the edges of the pages of the book block along the spine and to force the pages of the book block into the adhesive along the center portion of the cove such that upon the cessation of the ultrasonic energy the adhesive hardens substantially instantaneously thus binding the cover to the book block. A method of binding a book is also disclosed.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for binding a book, the later comprising a book block having a plurality of paper pages stacked together to form the pages of the book to be bound, the thickness of said book block ranging between a predetermined minimum number of pages and a predetermined maximum number of pages, and a paper cover adapted to wrap around the back, one edge, and the front of said book block, said one edge of said book block constituting the spine of the book block, said spine having a generally flat outer surface of a width corresponding generally to the thickness of said book block, said cover having an outer face, an inner face, and a center portion therebetween with said center portion being in register with said spine of said book block, said system comprising: an adhesive station for depositing a quantity of adhesive relative to the inner face of said center portion of said cover and to said outer face of said spine of said book block, said adhesive being a heat activatable adhesive which is substantially at room temperature when applied; and   a binding station for receiving said cover with the inner face of said cover disposed to receive said book block to be bound; said binding station having, first and second pressing members disposed on the outside of said cover on opposite sides of said cover proximate said spine of said book block with at least one of said pressing members being movable toward said other pressing member for compressing said cover onto said book block proximate said spine; and   an ultrasonic member rendered resonant and operatively engageable with the outer surface of said center portion of said cover for applying sonic energy thereto sufficient to activate said adhesive and to effect adhesive engagement between the edges of the pages of the book block constituting said outer surface of said spine and the inner surface of said cover proximate said spine such that upon removal of said sonic energy, said adhesive bonds said pages to one another and to said cover thereby to form a bound book.     
     
     
       2. A book binding system as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a cover processing station for forming the cover so as to conform to the thickness of the book to be bound, said cover processing station having a scoring mechanism which forms a front score line on said cover defining one edge of said of said center portion and a back score line on said cover defining the other edge of said center portion of said cover with the distance between said front and back score lines corresponding generally to the thickness of the spine of said book to be bound. 
     
     
       3. A book binding system as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a trimmer for trimming the bound book block and the cover bound thereto after binding. 
     
     
       4. A book binding system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said adhesive comprises a supply of sheet-like adhesive, and wherein said adhesive station has a cutter for cutting a portion of said sheet adhesive corresponding generally to the thickness of the spine of the book to be bound, said adhesive station further has a mechanism for placing said portion of sheet adhesive into position relative to said spine and relative to said cover. 
     
     
       5. A book binding system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said at least one movable pressing member comprises a roller forcibly movable toward and away from said book spine for compression of said cover and said book block between said pressing members. 
     
     
       6. A book binding system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said pressing members are rollers, said rollers permitting movement of said cover relative to said rollers thereby to allow the cover to conform to said book block substantially without forming of wrinkles in said cover. 
     
     
       7. A book binding system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said ultrasonic member is an ultrasonic horn. 
     
     
       8. A book binding system as set forth in claim 7 wherein said ultrasonic horn is movable toward and away from said center portion of said cover between a retracted position in which said horn is clear of said cover and an operative position in which said horn transmits ultrasonic energy through said cover so as to activate said adhesive. 
     
     
       9. A book binding system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said adhesive is a hot melt adhesive capable of being heated to an activated temperature by said ultrasonic horn. 
     
     
       10. A book binding system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said cover processing station comprises at least one scoring blade which forms said front and back score lines. 
     
     
       11. A book binding system as set forth in claim 10 in which said processing mechanism comprises a pair of scoring blades, said scoring blades being mounted for movement toward and away from the centerline of said cover. 
     
     
       12. A book binding mechanism as set forth in claim 11 further comprising means responsive to the thickness of said book being bound for adjusting said scoring blades relative to said centerline of said cover for forming said scoring lines such that they are spaced apart a distance corresponding to the thickness of the book to be bound. 
     
     
       13. A system for binding a book said book comprising a book block having a plurality of pages and a cover, said book block having a minimum number of pages and a maximum number of pages within a predetermined range of pages thus defining a range of book thicknesses which can be accommodated by said book binding system, said cover having a front face, a back face and a center portion, with the cover adapted to wrap around the front, the back, and at least one edge of said book block with this one edge of said book block constituting the spine of said book block, said binding system comprising: a carriage for receiving said pages constituting said book block, said carriage holding said pages and transporting said book block along a track;   an adhesive applying mechanism for applying a quantity of adhesive between the inner face of the cover and said spine of said book block;   a binding station located along said track, said binding station receiving said cover with said cover being disposed for receiving said spine of said book block with the latter in register with said center portion of said cover;   said carriage stopping at said binding station with said spine of the book in register with the center portion of said cover and with said adhesive disposed between said spine and said center portion of said cover;   said binding station having first and second pressing members disposed on opposite sides of said cover proximate said spine with at least one of said pressing members being movable toward said other pressing member for pressing said cover onto said book block proximate said spine; and   an ultrasonic horn operatively engageable with the outer surface of the center portion of said cover for applying ultrasonic energy thereto sufficient to activate said adhesive such that upon removal of said ultrasonic energy, said adhesive bonds said pages to one another and bonds said pages to said cover thereby to form a bound book.   
     
     
       14. A system as set forth in claims 1 or 13 wherein said adhesive solidifies substantially instantaneously upon de-energization of said vibratory member. 
     
     
       15. A system as set forth in claim 14 wherein said adhesive is a solid at room temperature and melts at elevated temperatures, and wherein ultrasonic horn transmits ultrasonic energy to said cover for effecting the melting of said adhesive with said ultrasonic energy forcing the adhesive into the edge portions of the pages of said book block and onto the portions of said cover proximate said center portion of said cover for insuring the adhesive bonding of said book block with said cover. 
     
     
       16. A system for binding a book block to a soft paper cover to form a perfect bound book, said book block comprising a plurality of paper book pages and having a minimum and a maximum number of pages within a limited range corresponding to a range of thicknesses of books to be bound, said cover having an outer face and an inner face, said book block having one edge thereof referred to as a spine, the length of said spine corresponding generally to the height of said book and the width of said spine corresponding generally to the thickness of said book block, said cover having a center portion on the inner face thereof for receiving said spine of said book block, said system comprising; means for applying an activatable adhesive between the inner face of said center portion of said cover and said spine of said book block;   means for assembling a book to be bound with said book block in register with said center portion of said cover with said adhesive between said spine and said center portion of said cover;   means for clamping said cover onto said book block proximate said spine; and   means for applying ultrasonic energy to the outer face of said center portion of said cover thereby to activate said adhesive into adhesive bonding engagement with the edges of said pages constituting said spine and with said inner face of said cover center portion such that upon removal of said vibratory energy from said cover, said adhesive substantially instantaneously bonds said pages together along said spine and bonds said cover to said spine such that said bound book is formed.   
     
     
       17. A method of binding a book, said book comprising a paper cover and a book block comprising a plurality of paper pages ranging between a minimum and a maximum number of pages within a predetermined range of pages, said book block having a length corresponding generally to the height of the book to be bound and a width corresponding generally to the thickness of the book to be bound, one edge of said book block constituting a spine, said cover having an inner face and an outer face and a center portion for receiving said spine, said method comprising the steps of: applying an adhesive between said center portion of said inner face of said cover and said spine of said book block;   assembling said book and said cover with said spine of said book block generally in register with said with said center portion of said cover and with said adhesive disposed between said center portion of said cover and said spine of said book block;   forcibly clamping said cover onto said book block proximate said spine;   applying ultrasonic energy to the outer surface of said center portion of said cover to activate said adhesive for adhesive engagement with the edges of said pages forming said spine and with the inner face of said cover such that upon removal of said ultrasonic energy, said adhesive cures thereby to bond said pages to one another and to bond said cover to said book block along said spine.   
     
     
       18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the step of trimming said book block and said cover after binding. 
     
     
       19. The method of claim 17 wherein said step of applying vibratory energy comprises forcibly engaging an ultrasonic horn to the outer surface of said cover along the spine of said book and rendering said ultrasonic horn resonant thereby to transmit ultrasonic energy from said ultrasonic horn through said cover into said adhesive thereby to melt said adhesive. 
     
     
       20. The method of claim 19 further involving the cessation of said ultrasonic energy after a predetermined time so as to effect the substantial instantaneous cooling and solidification of said adhesive. 
     
     
       21. A method of on demand printing and binding a copy of a book, said method comprising the steps of: selecting one of a multiplicity of books stored in the memory of a computer;   printing the pages of said book on paper stock;   forming a book block comprising a plurality of said pages, said book block having one edge thereof constituting a spine with the width of said spine corresponding generally to the thickness of said book block, said book block having a length corresponding generally to the height of the book to be printed;   printing a paper cover corresponding to said selected book, said cover having an inner face, an outer face, and a center portion;   applying an adhesive between the inner face of said center portion of said cover generally and said spine of said book block;   assembling said book block and said cover with said spine in register with said center portion of said cover with said adhesive disposed therebetween;   compressing said cover onto said book block proximate said spine;   applying ultrasonic energy to the outer surface of said cover center portion thereby to activate said adhesive into adhesive engagement with said pages of said book block along said spine and into adhesive engagement with the inner face of said center portion of said cover; and   ceasing the application of said ultrasonic energy thereby to effect the bonding of said pages to one another and to said cover in the region of said spine thereby to form a bound book.   
     
     
       22. The method of claim 21 further comprising printing said cover while said pages comprising said book block are printed. 
     
     
       23. The method of claim 21 wherein said adhesive is a heat activatable adhesive, and wherein said step of applying said sonic energy to melts such adhesive. 
     
     
       24. The method of claim 21 wherein said adhesive is of sheet form, and wherein said step of applying said adhesive comprises cutting at least one width-wise strip from said sheet with the width of said strip corresponding generally to the thickness of the spine of the book to be bound. 
     
     
       25. The method of claim 24 wherein said step of applying said adhesive comprises applying at least one said strip of adhesive between said inner face of said center portion of said cover and said spine of said book block. 
     
     
       26. A system for binding a book, the later comprising a book block comprising a plurality of paper pages stacked together to form the pages of the book to be bound, said book block having a minimum number of pages and a maximum number of pages within a predetermined range of pages, and a paper cover adapted to cover the front, the back and at least one edge of said book block, said one edge of said book block being referred to as the spine of the book block, said cover having an outer face and an inner face, said system comprising: a binding fixture for receiving the cover with the inner face of the cover disposed for receiving said book block to be bound;   an adhesive applying mechanism for applying adhesive between the inner face of the cover and said spine of said book block;   a carriage for transporting said book block along a path, said carriage positioning said book block relative to said cover such that said spine of said book block to be bound is generally in register with said cover with said adhesive disposed therebetween;   first and second pressing members disposed on opposite sides of said cover proximate said spine with at least one of said pressing members being movable toward said other pressing member for compressing said cover onto said book block proximate said spine; and   an ultrasonic horn movable between a retracted position in which it is clear of said cover and an operative position in which it is operative engagement with the outer surface of said center portion of the cover for applying ultrasonic energy thereto sufficient to activate said adhesive such that said activated adhesive is caused to be in adhesive engagement with the edges of the pages of the book block proximate said spine and with said center portion of said cover such that upon removal of said vibratory energy, said adhesive bonds said pages to one another and to said cover along said spine thereby to form a bound book.   
     
     
       27. A system for binding a book as set forth in claim 26 further comprising a book trimming station for trimming the top, bottom and outer edge of said book after said cover has been bound to said cover. 
     
     
       28. A system for perfect binding a book, said book comprising a book block having a plurality of paper pages and a paper cover, said book block having a minimum number of pages and a maximum number of pages within a predetermined range of pages thus defining a range of book thicknesses which can be accommodated by said book binding system, said cover having a front face, a back face and a center portion adapted to respectively wrap around the front, the back, and at least one edge of said book block with this one edge of said book block constituting the spine of said book block, said perfect binding system comprising: a carriage for receiving said pages constituting said book block, said carriage having a clamp for holding said pages, said carriage transporting said book block along a track;   an adhesive applying station along said track for applying a quantity of adhesive between the inner face of the cover and said spine of said book block;   a binding station located along said track, said binding fixture receiving said cover with said cover being disposed for receiving said spine of said book block with the latter in register with said center portion of said cover;   said carriage with said book block stopping along said track at said binding station with said spine of the book in register with the center portion of said cover and with said adhesive disposed between said spine and said center portion of said cover;   said binding station having first and second pressing members disposed on opposite sides of said cover proximate said spine with at least one of said pressing members being movable toward said other pressing member for pressing said cover onto said book block proximate said spine;   an ultrasonic horn operatively engageable with outer surface of the center portion of said cover at said binding station for applying energy thereto sufficient to activate said adhesive such that upon removal of said energy, said adhesive bonds said pages to one another and bonds said pages to said pages to cover thereby to form a perfect bound book; and   a trimming station along said track for trimming at least one edge of said bound book.